Giants CB James Bradberry Explains What Happened on Cooper Kupp’s Touchdown Reception

The Giants were close—so close—to putting themselves into a position to pull off an upset against the heavily favored Los Angeles Rams.

But all it took was for one mistake to allow the Rams to extend a 10-9 lead that spilled into the fourth quarter of the game to the 17-9 final score, and that mistake was on a busted coverage that allowed receiver Cooper Kupp to break free for a 55-yard touchdown with 6:56 left in the game.

After a game, the Giants players and head coach Joe Judge either declined to give specifics on broken plays, saying they have to watch the tape. However, cornerback James Bradberry, who was involved in that coverage of Kupp, admitted there was a miscommunication in the Giants defensive secondary that allowed Kupp to find daylight.

Turnin' on the jets! 💨@CooperKupp takes it 55 yards for the touchdown! 🙌 pic.twitter.com/ZIPO8e80Uf
— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) October 4, 2020

“They hurried up to the line,” Bradberry said. “It was just miscommunication on the back end. We're all accountable for that. We didn't communicate enough. That's what led to the touchdown.”

Bradberry, who appeared to be in the best position to stop Kupp, took his share of the blame.

“He kind of just squared me up. He had a two-way go on me. I stopped my feet. It was just bad technique by me,” Bradberry said. “I should have been able to get him down or at least get a hand on him or something.”

Bradberry has been one of the most reliable performers on the Giants defense. He entered this weekend’s game with a 79.5 coverage rating, which included one interception and a league-leading seven pass breakups through four games.

Bradberry took no satisfaction in being part of a Giants defense that held the Rams potent offense to a season-low 240 yards in a losing effort.

“It's frustrating to lose in general,” he said. “It was frustrating when we gave that deep touchdown pass to Coop, and I wasn't able to get him on the ground. I was frustrated with that.

“We just expect to go out there and dominate,” he added. “That's our whole motto, whether it's a win or a loss, we need to go out there and dominate and show that we are a dominant force. If they don't score, they don't win, that's the point at the end of the day.”

But don’t expect Bradberry to dwell on what happened. “You have to keep going on. If you run out of time at the end of the game, you have to move on to the next game. So, we're moving on to Dallas next week.”